Super Smash Bros. series

Air friction

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Air friction is a measure of how long it takes for a character to stop moving from a sideways force when in midair. It is the aerial equivalent to traction, which only applies when grounded. Air friction is measured in negative units/frame²

Air friction only applies when the player is not holding the Control Stick in a horizontal direction (or the input is being ignored, such as when in hitstun). If the player is attempting to slow down, air acceleration applies instead, and air friction is ignored. This allows characters to be designed with several properties:

  • High acceleration and high friction means a character will change velocity quickly in all situations.
  • High acceleration and low friction means a character will respond quickly to the player's controls, but be very slow to decelerate if the player lets go.
  • Low acceleration and high friction means a character will respond slowly to the player's controls, but be very quick to decelerate if the player lets go. This would lead to an unintuitive situation where a player trying to slow down will take longer than simply allowing friction to take over.
  • Low acceleration and low friction means a character will change velocity slowly in all situations.

Air friction also determines how far a character travels when they are aerial grab released (along with gravity in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl). A character with low air friction will travel a long horizontal distance whereas characters with high air friction will not travel far at all. This is because air friction acts as a force against the momentum granted by the aerial grab release. This results in characters with higher air friction being left in a more vulnerable position after being aerial grab released. This is especially significant in Brawl, due to the long amount of time the grab released opponent cannot act. Characters with high air friction in Brawl are much more vulnerable to aerial grab release followups (unless they have extremely high gravity to compensate), especially if they can be forced into an aerial grab release from the ground. This is the reason why Wario's aerial grab release in Brawl sends him nowhere horizontally, making him extremely vulnerable to followups.

It is circumstantial as to whether high or low air friction is good or bad and it is also game dependent (as with the aforementioned Brawl aerial grab release example). Low air friction means a character will not slow down as much if the player attempts to use a neutral aerial when moving, and will cause them to travel a bit further during combos. But on the other hand, high air friction helps resist being KO'd to a degree, and it may be beneficial in some cases to slow to a stop quicker without providing directional input.

Air friction values

Super Smash Bros.

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Rank Character Air friction
1 Jigglypuff's head icon from SSB. Jigglypuff 1
2 Kirby's head icon from SSB. Kirby 0.5
3 Pikachu's head icon from SSB. Pikachu 0.45
4-5 Ness's head icon from SSB. Ness 0.4
Yoshi's head icon from SSB. Yoshi
6-8 DK's head icon from SSB. Donkey Kong 0.3
Fox's head icon from SSB. Fox
Samus's head icon from SSB. Samus
9-10 C. Falcon's head icon from SSB. Captain Falcon 0.2
Mario's head icon from SSB. Mario
11 Luigi's head icon from SSB. Luigi 0.15
12 Link's head icon from SSB. Link 0

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Rank Character Air friction
1 JigglypuffHeadSSBM.png Jigglypuff 0.05
2 SheikHeadSSBM.png Sheik 0.04
3 NessHeadSSBM.png Ness 0.03
4-9 DonkeyKongHeadSSBM.png Donkey Kong 0.02
FalcoHeadSSBM.png Falco
FoxHeadSSBM.png Fox
GanondorfHeadSSBM.png Ganondorf
IceClimbersHeadSSBM.png Ice Climbers
KirbyHeadSSBM.png Kirby
N/A Male Wire Frame 0.02
10-13 DrMarioHeadSSBM.png Dr. Mario 0.016
MarioHeadSSBM.png Mario
MewtwoHeadSSBM.png Mewtwo
MrGame&WatchHeadSSBM.png Mr. Game & Watch
14 YoshiHeadSSBM.png Yoshi 0.013
15-20 BowserHeadSSBM.png Bowser 0.01
CaptainFalconHeadSSBM.png Captain Falcon
LuigiHeadSSBM.png Luigi
PichuHeadSSBM.png Pichu
PikachuHeadSSBM.png Pikachu
SamusHeadSSBM.png Samus
N/A Giga Bowser 0.01
21-26 LinkHeadSSBM.png Link 0.005
MarthHeadSSBM.png Marth
PeachHeadSSBM.png Peach
RoyHeadSSBM.png Roy
YoungLinkHeadSSBM.png Young Link
ZeldaHeadSSBM.png Zelda
N/A Female Wire Frame 0.005
N/A Sandbag 0.001

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Rank Character Air friction
1 WarioHeadSSBB.png Wario 0.08
N/A Wario-Man 0.08
2 JigglypuffHeadSSBB.png Jigglypuff 0.0375
3 NessHeadSSBB.png Ness 0.0225
4 SheikHeadSSBB.png Sheik 0.021
5 SquirtleHeadSSBB.png Squirtle 0.018
6-12 DonkeyKongHeadSSBB.png Donkey Kong 0.015
FoxHeadSSBB.png Fox
GanondorfHeadSSBB.png Ganondorf
IceClimbersHeadSSBB.png Ice Climbers
KirbyHeadSSBB.png Kirby
MetaKnightHeadSSBB.png Meta Knight
OlimarHeadSSBB.png Olimar
13-14 IvysaurHeadSSBB.png Ivysaur 0.014
LucasHeadSSBB.png Lucas
15 FalcoHeadSSBB.png Falco 0.013
16 MrGame&WatchHeadSSBB.png Mr. Game & Watch 0.012
17-21 DiddyKongHeadSSBB.png Diddy Kong 0.01
MarioHeadSSBB.png Mario
PeachHeadSSBB.png Peach
SonicHeadSSBB.png Sonic
ToonLinkHeadSSBB.png Toon Link
N/A Fighting Alloy Team 0.01
22 YoshiHeadSSBB.png Yoshi 0.00975
23 IkeHeadSSBB.png Ike 0.009
24-26 CharizardHeadSSBB.png Charizard 0.008
PitHeadSSBB.png Pit
ZeroSuitSamusHeadSSBB.png Zero Suit Samus
27-31 BowserHeadSSBB.png Bowser 0.0075
CaptainFalconHeadSSBB.png Captain Falcon
LuigiHeadSSBB.png Luigi
PikachuHeadSSBB.png Pikachu
SamusHeadSSBB.png Samus
N/A Giga Bowser 0.0075
32-33 KingDededeHeadSSBB.png King Dedede 0.006
ZeldaHeadSSBB.png Zelda
34-35 LucarioHeadSSBB.png Lucario 0.005
SnakeHeadSSBB.png Snake
36-37 ROBHeadSSBB.png R.O.B. 0.004
WolfHeadSSBB.png Wolf
38 LinkHeadSSBB.png Link 0.0038
39 MarthHeadSSBB.png Marth 0.00375

Super Smash Bros. 4

Rank Character Air friction
N/A Wario-Man 0.08
1 Mega Man's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mega Man 0.05
2 Wario's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Wario 0.04
3 Jigglypuff's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Jigglypuff 0.0375
4 Ness's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Ness 0.0225
5 Mewtwo's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mewtwo 0.016
6-19 Bowser Jr.'s stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Bowser Jr. 0.015
Donkey Kong's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Donkey Kong
Duck Hunt's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Duck Hunt
Fox's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Fox
Ganondorf's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Ganondorf
Greninja's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Greninja
Kirby's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Kirby
Mario's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mario
Mii Brawler's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mii Brawler
Olimar's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Olimar
Pac-Man's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Pac-Man
R.O.B.'s stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. R.O.B.
Sheik's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Sheik
RyuHeadSSB4-U.png Ryu 0.015*
N/A Giga Mac 0.015
20 LucasHeadSSB4-U.png Lucas 0.014
21 Dr. Mario's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Dr. Mario 0.01212
22-23 Meta Knight's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Meta Knight 0.012
Mr. Game & Watch's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mr. Game & Watch
24-32 Falco's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Falco 0.01
Mii Gunner's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mii Gunner
Palutena's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Palutena
Peach's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Peach
Rosalina and Luma's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Rosalina & Luma
Sonic's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Sonic
Toon Link's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Toon Link
Villager's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Villager
Wii Fit Trainer's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Wii Fit Trainer
33-36 CloudHeadSSB4-U.png Cloud 0.009
CorrinHeadSSB4-U.png Corrin
Ike's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Ike
Shulk's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Shulk
37-42 BayonettaHeadSSB4-U.png Bayonetta 0.008
Charizard's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Charizard
Dark Pit's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Dark Pit
Diddy Kong's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Diddy Kong
Pit's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Pit
Zero Suit Samus's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Zero Suit Samus
N/A Giga Bowser 0.008
43-48 Bowser's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Bowser 0.0075
Captain Falcon's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Captain Falcon
Little Mac's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Little Mac
Luigi's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Luigi
Pikachu's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Pikachu
SamusHeadSSB4-U.png Samus
49 Robin's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Robin 0.007
50-51 King Dedede's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. King Dedede 0.006
Zelda's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Zelda
52-54 Lucario's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Lucario 0.005
RoyHeadSSB4-U.png Roy
Yoshi's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Yoshi
N/A Mega Lucario 0.005
55-56 Link's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Link 0.0038
Mii Swordfighter's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mii Swordfighter
57-58 Lucina's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Lucina 0.00375
Marth's stock icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Marth

* Ryu is a special case thanks to his Fighter ability. If Ryu jumps, his air friction is 0, meaning he will not slow down at all unless the player attempts to decelerate. If Ryu becomes airborne through other means, his air friction is a standard 0.015.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Rank Character Air friction
1 MegaManHeadSSBU.png Mega Man 0.05
2 WarioHeadSSBU.png Wario 0.04
3 JigglypuffHeadSSBU.png Jigglypuff 0.0375
4 NessHeadSSBU.png Ness 0.0225
5-6 SimonHeadSSBU.png Simon 0.02
RichterHeadSSBU.png Richter
7 SquirtleHeadSSBU.png Squirtle 0.018
8 MewtwoHeadSSBU.png Mewtwo 0.016
9-29 MarioHeadSSBU.png Mario 0.015
DonkeyKongHeadSSBU.png Donkey Kong
KirbyHeadSSBU.png Kirby
FoxHeadSSBU.png Fox
IceClimbersHeadSSBU.png Ice Climbers
SheikHeadSSBU.png Sheik
GanondorfHeadSSBU.png Ganondorf
OlimarHeadSSBU.png Olimar
ROBHeadSSBU.png R.O.B.
GreninjaHeadSSBU.png Greninja
MiiBrawlerHeadSSBU.png Mii Brawler
Pac-ManHeadSSBU.png Pac-Man
BowserJrHeadSSBU.png Bowser Jr.
DuckHuntHeadSSBU.png Duck Hunt
InklingHeadSSBU.png Inkling
RidleyHeadSSBU.png Ridley
KingKRoolHeadSSBU.png King K. Rool
IncineroarHeadSSBU.png Incineroar
MinMinHeadSSBU.png Min Min
RyuHeadSSBU.png Ryu 0.015*
KenHeadSSBU.png Ken
30-32 IvysaurHeadSSBU.png Ivysaur 0.014
LucasHeadSSBU.png Lucas
Banjo&KazooieHeadSSBU.png Banjo & Kazooie
33-38 MrGame&WatchHeadSSBU.png Mr. Game & Watch 0.012
MetaKnightHeadSSBU.png Meta Knight
MiiGunnerHeadSSBU.png Mii Gunner
TerryHeadSSBU.png Terry
MythraHeadSSBU.png Mythra
SoraHeadSSBU.png Sora
39 DrMarioHeadSSBU.png Dr. Mario 0.011472
40-51 PeachHeadSSBU.png Peach 0.01
DaisyHeadSSBU.png Daisy
FalcoHeadSSBU.png Falco
SonicHeadSSBU.png Sonic
ToonLinkHeadSSBU.png Toon Link
VillagerHeadSSBU.png Villager
WiiFitTrainerHeadSSBU.png Wii Fit Trainer
Rosalina&LumaHeadSSBU.png Rosalina & Luma
PalutenaHeadSSBU.png Palutena
IsabelleHeadSSBU.png Isabelle
JokerHeadSSBU.png Joker
KazuyaHeadSSBU.png Kazuya
52-56 IkeHeadSSBU.png Ike 0.009
ShulkHeadSSBU.png Shulk
CloudHeadSSBU.png Cloud
CorrinHeadSSBU.png Corrin
PyraHeadSSBU.png Pyra
57-66 PitHeadSSBU.png Pit 0.008
DarkPitHeadSSBU.png Dark Pit
ZeroSuitSamusHeadSSBU.png Zero Suit Samus
CharizardHeadSSBU.png Charizard
DiddyKongHeadSSBU.png Diddy Kong
BayonettaHeadSSBU.png Bayonetta
PiranhaPlantHeadSSBU.png Piranha Plant
HeroHeadSSBU.png Hero
BylethHeadSSBU.png Byleth
Sephiroth's stock icon. Sephiroth 0.008
67-75 SamusHeadSSBU.png Samus 0.0075
DarkSamusHeadSSBU.png Dark Samus
PikachuHeadSSBU.png Pikachu
LuigiHeadSSBU.png Luigi
CaptainFalconHeadSSBU.png Captain Falcon
BowserHeadSSBU.png Bowser
PichuHeadSSBU.png Pichu
LittleMacHeadSSBU.png Little Mac
Steve's stock icon. Steve
76 RobinHeadSSBU.png Robin 0.007
77-78 ZeldaHeadSSBU.png Zelda 0.006
KingDededeHeadSSBU.png King Dedede
79-82 YoshiHeadSSBU.png Yoshi 0.005
RoyHeadSSBU.png Roy
ChromHeadSSBU.png Chrom
SnakeHeadSSBU.png Snake
83-84 LucarioHeadSSBU.png Lucario 0.004
WolfHeadSSBU.png Wolf
85-86 LinkHeadSSBU.png Link 0.0038
MiiSwordfighterHeadSSBU.png Mii Swordfighter
87-89 MarthHeadSSBU.png Marth 0.00375
LucinaHeadSSBU.png Lucina
YoungLinkHeadSSBU.png Young Link

* Ryu and Ken are a special case thanks to their Fighter ability. If Ryu/Ken jumps, their air friction is 0, meaning they will not slow down at all unless the player attempts to decelerate. If Ryu/Ken become airborne through other means, their air friction is a standard 0.015.